international football for Celtic supporters

Spanish Scene

Another glorious chapter in the incredible story that is the miracle of Villarreal CF was written on Sunday with an unprecedented invasion of Barcelona by over 10,000 of the Villarreal Yellow hordes.

Spanish football fans don’t do away games, even the top clubs rarely muster as many as 1,000 travelling supporters for even the most important games. Last month several hundred Villarreal fans made a similar length of journey to Murcia. That was, rightly, seen at the time as an amazing act of community support and involvement, by Spanish standards. Yet Sunday’s events totally rewrote the template of what is possible. Villarreal as they have shown consistently for the last 14 years live by different rules and Sunday 2nd June saw something unprecedented in the history of Spanish football. A major football citadel, Barcelona, was overrun and transformed into a home base by over 20% of the population of another town. Spain had seen nothing like this since April 2004 when 10,000 Celtic supporters invaded Villarreal and captivated the whole town with their wonderful attitude and behaviour. (See the side panel for details of the book “Celtic Submari” that describes that invasion and how it led to a New Model of Football relationships).

The Yellow Convoy Buses head for Barcelona

Almost 200 buses left Vila-real and drove in convoy to Barcelona. Over 10,000 Villarreal supporters, almost all wearing yellow tops, made the incredible journey. They took over the Mini-Stadium and transformed it into a sea of passionate yellow. A football stadium in Barcelona. The home team in their famous red and blue strip. The visitors the last La Liga team to split Barcelona and Real Madrid and claim 2nd place in La Liga. A totally unforgettable carnival atmosphere, and amazingly over 80% of the noisy crowd are wearing yellow and supporting the away team. Villarreal went into the game, against Barcelona B, the reserve team filled with the highly talented fruits of Barcelona’s vaunted youth policy, as the second top team in the Spanish Second Division. They knew if they won their last two games, away to Barca B then home to third placed Almeria, then automatic promotion back to La Liga would be guaranteed. The Yellow Hordes inspired their team to play their best football of the season.

Villarreal swamp Barca

Villarreal won 3-0 with a breath-taking display of attractive football that leaves Barcelona outclassed in their own midden. OK so it was the Mini Stadium rather than the Camp Nou, and a Second Division game rather than a La Liga clash, but it was still a miracle in action, a remarkable day that will never be forgotten by any of the over 10,000 yellow clad invaders.

Any Celtic supporters watching the game on the internet will have been able to spot a fair number of Celtic tops dotted among the hordes of yellow ones. The Villarreal Celtic Submari were well represented, as by far the the biggest of all the Villarreal Penyas, and many of them wore their green and white tops. The whole day was carried out in the excellent spirit required by the new model of football relationships pioneered by the Villarreal Celtic Submari, based on respect and affection. 10,000 invaders but not a single arrest, no aggression or drunkenness, only good spirited camaraderie. an amazing performance by amazing people, on e that has impressed and captivated all Spain

The invasion was the brainchild of Villarreal CF President Fernando Roig, who previously had his mental health questioned for being the only man in the world to believe a team from a town of 50,000 could have 20,000 season ticket holders. That impossible dream became a reality in 2008 and has been repeated several times since. In his latest miracle, Roig conceived of and subsidised the invasion, at a cost reliably estimated to be around 150,000 euros. At 15 euros a head it was a magnificent investment in his continuous dream of producing a club ‘owned’ emotionally if not financially, by the community. Not one of that 10,000 army are ever likely to desert Villarreal. In a stroke all the damage, despair and disillusion caused by last year’s avoidable relegation was wiped away to be replaced by a burning sense of “our special team” are doing it again

In June 2011 Villarreal had finished 4th in La Liga, qualifying for the Champions League for the third time. They also were semi-finalists in the Europa League making it a hat-trick of semi-final appearances in an amazing 8 consecutive seasons in European club football. They had a squad packed with talented world class players and a young manager of great intelligence and ability.

Relegated in the last 2 minutes of the season, but the top two kept the faith and the miracle alive

Twelve long months later, in June 2012, Villarreal CF were out of La Liga, relegated after a season of disaster and maladministration. The whole poignant story of how that eminently avoidable relegation happened, when they were only in the relegation positions for the last 180 seconds of the season, is available in a GGW special report that makes sad and sorry reading. Was that relegation the end of the Villarreal miracle? And would the Yellow Submarine do as bitter Burriana supporters had been predicting for years, and sink swiftly down through the lower ranks of Spanish football back to the natural level of 5th tier football appropriate for the size of their population?

Sunday’s invasion of Barcelona was the second last confirmation that the resounding answer to both these questions is that the miracle of Villarreal CF is still on-going. The Villarreal supporters stayed true to their own club. If 20,000 season ticket holders for a club in La Liga from a town of 50,000 population was indeed one of the true miracles of world football, then for a Second Division club to have around half as many is in many ways an even greater and more impossible miracle. But they did it. All season the motto has been “Tornarem” – They will return. The Miracle requires nothing less.

Marcelino at last a Villarreal manager to compete with Pellegrini

To have a manager like Pellegrini was a major ingredient in the Villarreal miracle. And he showed with Malaga, taking them to within 2 minutes of a Champions League semi-final, just how much of a miracle worker he is in his own right. The Villarreal Holy Trinity of Fernando Roig, Llaneza and Fernando Roig Negueroles lost the plot after Pellegrini’s departure and made a series of disastrous and often inexplicable appointments, before and after relegation, including swinging bizarrely from a too old manager to a too young manager within days of relegation. But finally they resorted to their first principles and got it right with Marcelino Garcia, a manager in the Pellegrini Villarreal mould, a top class manager and a top class man. He has taken a squad that is, frankly, poor by recent Villarreal standards, to a position where they are 90 minutes from an automatic return at the first attempt, an essential requirement for keeping the Villarreal miracle alive. Many clubs from towns almost as small as Vila-real have had their moment in the sun, a season or two in La Liga. None have managed to return immediately after the inevitable relegation. Yet once again Villarreal are about to break the mould.

Saturday 8th June is going to be another exhilarating chapter in the story of the Villarreal CF miracle. The Madrigal Stadium will be filled to its capacity as the whole population of the town gather to witness the third promotion in their recent history. A victory against third in the table Almeria will guarantee promotion. Even a low score draw, 0-0 or 1-1, will see Villarreal promoted. Even if they fail to achieve that, there will be a promotion play-off contest involving Girona, Alcorcon and Las Palmas that Villarreal would be strongly favoured to win. But the logic of the Villarreal miracle is that Saturday will see promotion confirmed and celebrated.

On Sunday GGW will provide a full report on the Almeria game and the aftermath, which will surely be joyous celebration of a return to La Liga. After the emotional excitement and consolidation of last Sunday it is surely unthinkable that the script can produce anything other than further confirmation that the Villarreal miracle is still in full play, and that for season 2013-2014, a town of 50,000 happy inhabitants will once again have over 20,000 season ticket holders welcoming the big Spanish clubs as equals. Once the euphoria of confirmed promotion is over, there will be a time for a more sober consideration of whether Villarreal back in the La Liga can repeat the glorious achievements of the ten magic years from 2002-2011 when Villarreal were the 4th most successful club in Spain and the 12th most successful club in Europe. But for now, for Saturday 8th June it will be enough to be a part of another glorious and unforgettable chapter in the Villarreal CF miracle. TORNAREM

GGW readers can watch the game, which kicks off at 6pm on Saturday on their commuter with any good broadband connection. Google “Villarreal versus Almeria livestream” and you will get a choice of channels. Throughout this season GGW has found the Arabic channels best for picture quality and English commentary.

“Yellow Submarine – the Miracle of Villarreal”, a book somewhat sadly drowned by last year’s relegation can still be bought by clicking on the right hand panel below or from www.ringwoodpublishing.com or www.Amazon.co.uk

“Yellow Submarine” The ideal Christmas present for all football lovers

If you’re looking for a Christmas Present for anyone interested in football, GGW has the perfect solution. Almost all football fans are Romantic Dreamers (although they often hide it well). They fervently hope and believe their club, no matter how big or small, can and will do better. “Yellow Submarine- the Miracle of Villarreal CF” is the inspiring story of how a wee club from a small town of under 50,000 population rose from the lower depths of Spanish football to establish themselves in just over 10 years as one of the top clubs not just in Spain but in Europe. (Full details of the book can be found via the link below right).

“Yellow Submarine” is a book that offers hope to all supporters of clubs both big and small that their club too can “Live the Dream”. Based on Community and Integrity, it offers a morally superior alternative to reliance on American or Russian Billionaires or Arab Dynasties.

Individual copies of Yellow Submarine, all signed by the author Sandy Jamieson, can be purchased via the link below right, or direct from www.ringwoodpublishing.com

The past few weeks in Spain have seen an important series of games which brought a welcome degree of clarity to the true nature of the power hierarchy in La Liga.
At the start of the sequence there were three teams dominating the scene, the eternal Big Two Real Madrid and Barcelona, and upstarts Villarreal, who were only two points of Barcelona and three behind leaders Real.

After the 11th round of games, Villarreal lost to Barcelona in the Nou Camp and then there were two. It has become a recent Spanish custom akin to the old game of letters to the Times announcing the first cuckoo sighting of spring, to watch for the first headline of the season bemoaning that the Spanish League has become like the Scottish one. And sure enough the day after Barcelona beat Villarreal there it was plastered over the back page of Marca “Ha vuelto de nuevo la Liga escocesa” and “Welcome once more to the league of two”

Put briefly the argument runs that the Spanish League has become as uncompetitive as the Scottish one, and as in that one, there will only ever be two possible winners, the same two every season, the Big Two. In 2009- 2010 in Spain the gap between the second of the Big Two and the third team, over 38 games, was a massive 25 points with the 4th team a further 9 points behind. In 2009- 2010 in Scotland the gap between the second of the Big Two and the third team, over 38 games, was an massive 18 points with the 4th team a further 9 points behind. So if anything the Scottish League was slightly more competitive.

To be compared with the Scottish League is a massive blow to Spanish pride, since for years they have boasted that their league, La Liga, is the finest in the world. Never mind that Villarreal who finished 7th in La Liga are far superior to both Rangers and Celtic, as they have proved several times in the last few seasons, and that Atletico Madrid in 9th place, won the Europa League and would be strong favourites to win the Scottish League, as would Valencia or Sevilla. There can be no doubt that the standard of the Spanish League is almost immeasurably better than the Scottish League, that the strength in depth is much superior. The sad reality has become that the Spanish League is no more competitive.

Barcelona gave Villarreal a football lesson. They proved themselves to be a class above the Yellow Submarine. But they had to be at their very best to do it. It was an enthralling game, of the best quality, certainly by far the best game of the season probably one of the finest of the last decade. Barcelona started at full pace and top quality and it took Villarreal 20 minutes to recover from the shock that they could not get into a rhythm and that they were being outclassed. Villa scored a well-deserved first goal in the 20th minute, evading a crude lunge from old Valencia colleague Marchena. However despite going behind Villarreal did not stop trying to take Barcelona on at their own game, fast possession football and gradually they came back into the game. Great skill from Nilmar rounded off a good Villarreal move with an equaliser after 27 minutes and emboldened Villarreal had as much of the play as Barcelona for the rest of the half. The second half started with both sides still committed to playing fast positive attacking football. Barcelona were the team who scored, twice, through Messi at his very finest. Barcelona deserved to win. They gave as fine an exhibition of football over 90 minutes as many spectators have ever seen. But Villarreal proved true to themselves, proved they are a superb team and that on a different day with different luck might have got a rather undeserved draw, even against Barcelona at their best.

It is no disgrace to lose to a Barcelona team playing the best football in the world. By showing they could live on the same park, with that quality of football and still be in the game, Villarreal demonstrated that they are back to being one of the top teams in Europe, capable of playing football of excellent quality.

At last, it’s over. Even the most fanatical and football-obsessed of us can get at least some elements of a balanced life back after the horrors of having to watch 2 or even 3 games a day for over a month. The editorial decision was made not to add to GGW site during this period, since there was already more than enough to read, absorb and think about. However it is now back to business as usual with all the usual tittle tattle of the summer close season to report.

But before normal business resumes, this article will reflect on the main issues arising from the 34 days invested in watching the 2010 World Cup. The abiding recollection of this World Cup will be that the best team won it. Spain built up improved form in their last few games and proved their clear superiority to both Germany and Holland, the other two best organised, best prepared and laid out sides. The other enduring feeling will be a sense of profound disappointment at the general poor standard of play and the almost complete lack of adventurous attacking football.

Levante are the minor club in Valencia, the poor working class relation to the aristocratic Valencia. For that very reason, most of the Celtic supporters who end up in the Valencia region tend to end up supporting them as underdogs, a trend enhanced in recent years by signings of Johan Mjallby and Ian Harte.

Juanlu starts celebrations with early goal

On Sunday GGW witnessed what must qualify as at least a minor miracle if not a more major one. It took place when Levante secured their promotion from the Second Division to La Liga amidst emotional scenes of joy and rampant celebration. Levante started the game knowing that victory, coupled with either closest pursuesr Real Betis or Hercules failing to win, would absolutely guarantee them promotion with one round to go. When Juanlu scored in the 4th minute any pressure disappeared and when Xisco Munoz made it 2-0 after 8 minutes the party began to start. The Javi Guerra strike in the 40th minute to make it 3-0 was swiftly followed by the sweet news on thousands of transistor radios that Hercules were 1-0 down at home and Betis only drawing away. Nothing happened in a joyous second half to dampen the enthusiasm, not even a late meaningless Castellon goal, and although Hercules laboured to a 2-1 victory with a goal in the last minute, the Betis game stayed goalless and at the final whistle the whole crowd knew Levante were promoted.

Levante supporters celebrate promotion

Then the party really began. Most of the 18,000 crowd ended milling about on the pitch in front of the main stand, singing and dancing in pure delight. Probably against police advice the players were easily persuaded to come back out and join the party which went on for well over an hour after the final whistle, before sprawling out onto the streets of Valencia

The following post was written by Vicente Andreu Navarro in response to my request for a Villarreal perspective on Pellegrini’s time at Real Madrid.

Two years ago Manuel Vicent, a very well-known Spanish journalist and writer, published a novel entitled “León de ojos verdes” –meaning in English “Lion with green eyes” -. This novel, which I strongly recommend reading, narrates several short stories that happen during summer-time in a beach resort on Castellón’s Mediterranean shore, around the Hotel Voramar. The several plots and dramas take place under the attentive look of a plaster lion that guards the main staircase of the hotel entrance.

Another famous Manuel, Manuel Pellegrini, is also a frequent guest to the Voramar. At least during the five years he managed Villarreal CF’s first squad. Now, he has just finished his spell as Real Madrid’s coach. The job that half the people in Spain dream of and the other half would accept without hesitating in spite of the feeling that it would involve cooperating with the enemy.

Pellegrini The Lion with green eyes

The statistics of his performance with Real Madrid during the season are unquestionable -: ninety six points, and one hundred and two goals. Last season, Barcelona, the winner of everything, got eighty seven points. Six years ago, Valencia, obtained the championship with seventy seven points. But that has not been enough, he has not been capable of obtaining a championship and was beaten in the Cup and in Champions League by minor rivals, and that is a sufficient reason for having been dismissed as manager of what many people considers the best club in the world.

The real thing is that price is often mistaken for value. It is commonly assumed that a squad needs time to adapt to the philosophy of its coach and Pellegrini has not had enough time to proof that he is one of the very best in his job. We, Villareal supporters, know it quite well.

Next season Real Madrid will have again a great squad with renowned players and a new manager, and, sure enough, they will be fighting again for the championship. But that won’t happen under the smart, elegant and polite look of the Chilean lion with green eyes.

Good luck, Mr. Pellegrini. I hope to see you again at the Voramar.

A book for bilingual Celtic fans

Vicente Andreu, one of the founder members of Villarreal Celtic Submari, is an author who has published a book “El Trebol de Cuatro Hojas” (the 4 leafed clover). This entertaining novel tells the story of a young Spanish footballer and his first season at Glasgow Celtic, where he also gets caught up in a search for a powerful old religious relic. It was written before Marc Crosas signed for Celtic and Vicente presented Crosas with a copy on one of the Celtic Submari’s trips to Glasgow.

Any Celtic supporter who can read Spanish would enjoy this novel which celebrates Celtic and their supporters. Copies can be obtained from Ringwood Publishing in Glasgow by emailing mail@ringwoodpublishing.com

The GGW prediction of many months ago, that Manuel Pellegrini would be sacked at the end of the season whether or not he won the league, finally came true on Wednesday night. The events of the evening allowed Pellegrini to show his inherent dignity and decency but they also demonstrated some of his weaknesses and offered a final proof that very good coach as he is, the Real Madrid job was never the right one for him.

All the press hysteria of the past week about the imminent arrival of Mourinho to the job that was still technically his must have been hurtful to the proud Chilean even though, as GGW reported last week, he had the consolation of a very large cheque stuffed down the back of his trousers.

Relieved and happy, but with pride hurt

On Wednesday night Pellegrini looked happier than he has for months. Ever since the October 4-0 Cup defeat by a third division team he has looked more and more haunted and hunted, with a growing form of glassiness around the eyes that have been a gift to the crueller Marca cartoonists and caricaturists that have lampooned him mercilessly for the past 7 months.

President Florentino Perez in sacking Pellegrini thanked him for his grace and good manners but made it clear that his club required trophies for the money he spends. With this faint praise he echoed how Marca had more cruelly put it weeks ago “Yes, Pellegrini is a dignified man with good manners, but when did those become the crucial qualities for a successful coach?”

Not many people, except maybe the merchant bankers amongst us, expect to be rewarded for making the biggest mistake of our life by having a cheque for 5 million euros stuffed into our back pocket. But that is what has happened this week to Manuel Pellegrini

Regular readers will know the very high regard GGW has for Pellegrini both as a man of dignity, decency and good character and also as a coach of the highest class. His record with small town Villarreal in his 5 years there was nothing short of sensational, with highlights including a 2nd and 3rd place finish in La Liga and semi-final and quarter-final appearances in the Champions League. Over his 5 years there Pellegrini made Villarreal the fourth placed La Liga team, bested only by Real Madrid, Barcelona and very narrowly by Sevilla but some way ahead of traditional giants and much better resourced Valencia and Atletico Madrid. Under Pellegrini Villarreal were renowned for their attractive attacking style of football.

The more straightforward title for this Post might have been “Why Real Madrid might still win La Liga, and why that outcome should not be seen as a disaster by all right (or left) minded people, as it normally would”.

Last season going into El Clasico at their Bernabeu Stadium Real Madrid and Barcelona were seen as neck and neck in the race for La Liga. Prior to the actual Clasico game, the Real Madrid side of Juande Ramos had gone a remarkable run of 18 games without defeat, with no less than 17 victories and 1 draw. That run was shattered with the unforgettable 6-2 victory by Guardiola’s team. The next day Marca the “Real Madrid newspaper” stated that Ramos should not and would not get the job on a permanent basis. Hurt and angry, he responded with a classic phrase that owed something to Marx (Groucho not Karl) “I wouldn’t want to work for any club who judged me on one game”. Totally demoralised, his side went on to lose every single one of the remaining 4 games of the season. The eventual confirmation that Juande Ramos was out of work was therefore made at the culmination of a 5 game losing run and did not inspire widespread surprise or condemnation.

Pellegrini Decency and dignity in action

The figures of Pellegrini’s Real Madrid going into this season’s Clasico were even more impressive than those of Ramos. His team had won all 15 previous home games and set a series of goal scoring and point attaining records, like scoring 3 or more goals in 10 successive games. And his team went into the Clasico as league leaders if only on goal difference. Yet for months before the game Marca had been waging a campaign saying Pellegrini was not a good enough manager for Real Madrid and his team did not play good enough football. In the actual Clasico game, as was reported in GGW’s post of April 13th“Real Madrid and Pellegrini lose”, Real Madrid were outplayed by Barca and Pellegrini was outmanoeuvred by Guardiola. The morning after the game the subtle and restrained Marca front page headline was “Pellegrini time is over” and inside a series of “We told you so” articles argued that Marca’s stance had been vindicated by the result.

Pellegrini has responded with all the dignity and decency that close watchers like GGW know is the absolute essence of the man. He refused to be drawn into discussions about his future and concentrated instead on publicly and privately reassuring his players that they could still win the league. His team listened attentively to him, as he still commands the respect of the players if not the Marca journalists nor his own President’s men. Real Madrid have won all three games since the Clasico, 2 of them away from home. No Juande Ramos he, cut from sterner stuff. It now looks much more likely that his initial prediction, that they would win all 7 of their remaining games, could be proved correct. His other public prediction was that those 21 points would be enough to win the league as Barcelona could well drop the 4 points required out of their remaining 7 games (4 not 3 because of the Spanish head to head rule for determining point equality) That thesis now looks much more likely than when he first made it, thanks to 2 points dropped against neighbours Espanol and 2 remaining away games against Villarreal and Sevilla both of whom will be well motivated and well equipped to take at least a draw. If either Villarreal or Sevilla gets even a draw at home against Barca, and Real win their 4 remaining games, then Real Madrid will be champions. So Pellegrini could yet win his first trophy in Europe. He has after all won 4 league titles in 3 different South American countries (Chile, Ecuador and Argentina) as well as 2 continental club titles there. (continue reading…)

Well Greengreenworld got the Clasico outcome it asked for, as the game of the Millennium was determined fairly on merit, and the better team by far triumphed. Barcelona in winning comfortably by 2-0 proved beyond reasonable doubt that not only are they the best team in the world, they are also the best team in Spain. The better team won, indeed the team won, triumphing over the collection of individuals.

In truth the game did not live up to the months of hype and heightened expectation. It was passably watchable rather than enthralling; tactically interesting rather than thrilling; and never reached the advanced heights of pulsating entertainment that a football match between two of the best teams in the world can sometimes attain.

Don’t be fooled by the statistics about shots on goal managed and shots on target, in both of which Real Madrid lead Barcelona by a factor of 2-1, 16 shots to 8, and 7 on target to Barca’s mere 4. The superiority of Barcelona was overwhelming, something freely admitted by even the normally blinkered Madrid press.

GGW has long punted Xavi as the most influential player in the world (see e.g. Post of June 2009 ‘Barca finally emulate Celtic’). He proved the correctness of that view agent Arsenal and again last night was the key influence in Barca’s victory. It was his precision passes that laid on both goals, it was his brain that waged, ran and won the midfield battle. On the World Player of the Year front Messi had a quietly intelligent game and took his goal well. Cristiano Ronaldo was louder, tried hard but was never part of an attacking pattern. (continue reading…)

GreenGreenWorld

GreenGreenWorld is a football blog produced by SISIF, (the Sherbrooke Institute for the Study of International Football). The SISIF Director, Sandy Jamieson, has been an active student of world football for over 40 years and has an extensive network of information, knowledge and contacts in Europe, South America and the rest of the football world. Although SISIF is based in Glasgow, Sandy currently spends most time at his home in Spain where he is finishing a book about Villarreal, “The Yellow Submarine”. He is a writer/consultant and his previously published novels “Own Goal” and “The Great Escape?” are available from Ringwood Publishing or Amazon. Mainstream published his previous book on Scottish football.

Celtic Submari

The positive story of how an invasion of a small Spanish town, Vila-real by 10,000 Celtic supporters lead to the development of a New Model of football relationships based on respect and affection, not hatred and bitterness.

Yellow Submarine

The amazing story of how a wee club from a small town of 50,000 population established themselves as the 4th best team in Spain and the 12th best in Europe.

It demonstrates proof that integrity and community can still produce success, irrespective of size, and offers a morally superior alternative to reliance on American and Russian Billionaires or Arab dynasties.